I’m sure this announcement from TV Line comes with mixed emotions from the fan bases.

The long-awaited return of Mad Men’s Season 5 hits the air Sunday March 25th. Mad Men has been off the air since October 2010. The usual spring premiere was pushed back to a fall premiere which was then delayed until after 2012. It’s quite strange for a show this strong to be on hiatus for as long as Mad Men has, but I’m sure the fans won’t care at this point. We are just so happy Don Draper and crew is back!! Now I just need to finish the 4th season before March! I think I can do it.

The Walking Dead has its Season 2 debut on Thursday, Feb 2nd. I don’t watch this show, but I’m hoping Netflix has it because I would like to start watching it. It’s gotten great write ups so I would like to check it out. For those of you who watch it, should I check it out?

Finally, the show that brought a fan base to its knees last summer, The Killing returns on AMC on Sunday April 1st. I was one of those people who was livid at the way The Killing handled its last few episodes and the way their head writer Veena Sud was so condescending to the fan base in her explanation as to why Rosie’s murder wasn’t solved at the end of the first season. I am beyond curious to see the ratings for the show in its second season. I’m still torn as to whether or not I am going to tune in but I know many fans who said they are done with the show and they’ll see who the killer was at some point on-line.

Are you going to be tuning into The Killing season two? Are you getting your martini and scotch glasses polished for the return of Mad Men?

F&B has been renewed for 10 episodes next summer on TNT. I’m slightly surprised by this because the ratings have not been good. They haven’t been awful but they haven’t been lighting the world on fire. I have a bunch of episodes on my DVR so at some point I may check them out. And since I have dropped HawthoRNe from my summer viewing schedule, I may pick up F&B.

Grey’s Anatomy

Grey’s is doing a time jump for Season 8. Not really. It’s five days after the Season 7 finale. So I was a little taken aback when I saw one website promote it as a “time jump.” Anyhoo, two major story lines will still be going on with one having a solution at the end of the season premiere….the McDreamys are still having problems from the fallout from Meredith tampering with the Alzheimer’s trial and Cristina is still debating whether or not she should keep her baby. For you Derek and Meredith fans hoping their issues would be solved at the end of the episode, sorry to disappoint you but that isn’t the storyline having a solution. That would be Cristina. At this point, five days later, she still hasn’t made up her mind on what she wants to do. But by the end of the premiere, she makes a decision. I know SL like this are always hot, sensitive topics for fans, but I really like SL like this. It brings so much interest to the show and I am really curious to see where Grey’s goes with this.

In other news, Sarah Drew (new Chief Resident Dr. April Kepner) is preggers in real life. On the debate table right now is whether or not to write the pregnancy into the story. In most instances, this wouldn’t be that much of an issue. But in this character’s case, it’s a little different. You see, April is still a virgin. And the new chief resident. Depending on how far along she is by the time filming starts and the season progresses, how will this be incorporated in? It could fascinating to witness this girl who has held onto her virginity for so long now have to deal with an unplanned pregnancy and the new responsibility of being the chief resident. Problem is, you are already dealing with one of those on the show…..Cristina Yang’s pregnancy. Do they really want to have Cristina’s unplanned pregnancy story out there, because no matter what her decision, there will be fallout for weeks/months to come, with April’s unplanned pregnancy just beginning? It wouldn’t make sense. So my gut tells me, we will be seeing April hiding behind lots of plants and patients this season.

Hell on Wheels

AMC has announced a premiere date for its Civil War era show starring Anson Mount….November 6th.

Boss

Starz’s new series Boss, starring Kelsey Grammar has set a premiere date for October 21st. Boss is about a ruthless Chicago Mayor (played by Grammar) who has been recently diagnosed with a debilitating disease. This is a big change for Grammar who has been in the comedy realm for the last 15 years. This show will really show the behind the scenes look at the mayor’s office in Chicago…the backdoor deals, the lying and manipulating that happens, and the lives affected by the decisions that are made. It sounds fantastic and I am definitely checking it out.

Wow. It must take A LOT of negativity for the president of a network to come out and address a season finale on his network.

In an exclusive interview with EW.com, AMC president Charlie Collier addressed fans criticisms of the inaugural season finale. “We underestimated the passion of viewers have for closure within this season.” You think? “It was never our intention to misguide the viewer.” Then what was your intention?

I’m very torn on this. I’m not someone who always needs a story or a season to be wrapped up in a tight little bow. And I love a great cliffhanger at the end of a season. I also tip my cap to show runners and creative teams that think outside the box and take some risks with their storytelling. And for the most part, The Killing was good. It was gripping and exciting and heartbreaking. It really showed, in real-time, how something like this affects so many people in different ways and how a tragedy like this can completely change and uproot your life in ways you never imagined.

Having said all that, when you take a risk (like not closing a season long case in the season finale) you take a big chance of alienating your audience and losing their trust if not handled correctly. I personally don’t think the people behind The Killing handled this correctly. First, AMC promoted this series as “Who Killed Rosie Larsen?” It talked about following one case throughout the entire season and telling the story from the different perspectives of the detectives, the family, and the suspects involved. When you talk about following one case and the whole premise being who killed Rosie, you give the audience the impression that by episode 13, the case will be solved. When you look back on some of the promos for the show and there was a series of commercials with the cast (which were awesome) where all they talk about is how this show grips you and all you want to know is who killed Rosie. Well, that’s exactly the excitement you built up in your audience. So are you really that surprised that when you don’t tell them, they are pissed? Are you really surprised that when you don’t solve the crime and say guess what, you have to come back next season to find out, that people are annoyed and feel tricked? You shouldn’t be. If I were the person coming up with this idea the first thing I would say is that people are either going to love us for this or hate us for this. So the hate us part, shouldn’t be a shock at all. That is what has surprised me. That Veena Sud and Charlie Collier underestimated the backlash. That shocks me. The baseline premise of your show is who killed this girl. You don’t tell the audience and you didn’t think it would be that big of a deal? Ok then.

As I mentioned in previous posts, my issue with the show wasn’t the fact that they didn’t close the case out in 13 episodes, but that the story telling was disjointed at certain parts of the season and there was plenty of opportunity to tell a gripping, mesmerizing story and wrap up the case. The way the story was told this season (wasting so much time on the teacher for example) it didn’t surprise me at all that they didn’t wrap it up because they didn’t leave themselves enough time to do so. About episode 11, I got the feeling this case wasn’t going to be solved. And I would rather them not solve it this season and go into the next and wrap it up correctly vs. hurrying to close a case where it feels cheap and easy. But if the story telling flowed better, they should have been able to get this done in 13 episodes.

The Killing was still one of the best new shows of the season. With all it’s faults, I still enjoyed it and I will be back for season two. If for no other reason than to see who killed Rosie!!!! But Sud and Collier cannot be surprised by the negative backlash they have received as a result of their risk taking. They can’t be surprised that people are furious that the promotion they witnessed leading up to the show…Who Killed Rosie Larsen…gave people the idea that the case would be solved only to be left hanging until next season. But see Collier’s comments for yourself by clicking on the link above.

Like this:

Who Killed Rosie Larsen? That would be………………………………we still don’t know. No I’m not kidding and no this isn’t a joke. 13 episodes into The Killing and I am just as in the dark as I was in Episode 1. And WOW were people on Twitter pissed last night!!! But not finding out who killed Rosie wasn’t even the biggest thing people were upset about. If you haven’t seen last night’s finale yet, don’t read anymore below. But if you did see it and you know what I am talking about, please read on.

I think it’s safe to say that from the very beginning, there is one person we knew who didn’t commit this crime….Detective Sarah Linden. No ifs ands or buts about it. Everyone else was fair game….even Mitch and Stan (Rosie’s parents.) But I do think that a twist people didn’t see coming was that her partner, Holder, would somehow be in on it. There were things that happened and ways Holder was acting in the last few episodes leading up to the finale that did make me raise my eyebrow. I talked more about it on the podcast than on the blog, but there were two things that happened that made me question Holder before tonight. The first was seeing him with the token that had the same symbol on it from the casino where Rosie was last seen. Did he see Rosie there that night? Did he know she was a regular there? Either way, Holder appeared to be holding information back. The second was when video surveillance from the ATM machines came in and he told the cop on the phone not to let Linden know, that he would take care of that. Now at first it seemed he was doing it because Jack was missing all day and he wanted to give Linden time with her son. But my first gut reaction to his decision-making was that something smelled fishy about that. Why wouldn’t you tell her? I think it’s because there was something on there he wanted to check out first to make sure Linden didn’t see. But I blew both suspicions off as me reading too much into it….until last night.

Linden and Holder are hot on the trail of Richmond thinking he killed Rosie. There is a ton of circumstantial evidence but nothing concrete to arrest the councilman who presumably is about to be elected mayor. But just when the chief is about to shut it down, guess who comes in with something solid? Holder. He brings in a photo graph from a toll booth that they had requested from the night of Rosie’s murder, which shows Richmond driving the car that Rosie was found in that is time stamped the night she was killed. That’s all the chief need to see and told them to go arrest Richmond. They arrest him and he tells them they are making a huge mistake. Since the case is “wrapped up”, Linden and Jack finally get on their plane to Sonoma (I’ll get into why this is really stupid later on) when Linden gets a phone call from the toll booth operator stating she couldn’t get them the pictures they requested. Linden is obviously confused since Holder turned in the picture. THe woman explains to her that the camera on the toll booth hadn’t been working for months and there is no possible way a picture could have been taken the night of the murder. Flash to Holder getting into a car with someone we don’t see and says “the picture worked. Richmond is going down.” Flash back to Linden stuck on a plane to Sonoma stewing with this newly discovered information. Rosie’s killer is still out there.

Here are my thoughts on the season. I enjoyed The Killing. I think the cast is fantastic and I find the case intriguing. However, I think the way the storytelling flowed was off. I know some people had issues with the pacing. I had no such issues. I thought the pacing was fine and I’m not someone who needs non-stop action to be entertained. My issue is more with the storytelling. In 13 episodes, we spent 4-5 episodes focusing on the teacher, Mr. Bennett. The first three episodes spent time setting up the case and characters. One whole episode dedicated to finding Jack and develop Linden and Holder’s relationship. That left about 4 episodes to cover other witnesses and wrap up the case. There seemed to be so many details out there that I wanted clarity on but there wasn’t enough time to go through it. What was Stan’s sketchy past? Did Rosie get involved in her Aunt’s escort service or was that something else entirely? Where did Rosie get all that money? What is the connection to the casino? If Richmond had nothing to do with her killing, how did she end up in the car? Why wasn’t her shoe and other parts of the crime scene investigated at the beginning of the investigation instead of 2 weeks later? The storytelling wasn’t clean. I’m not saying it has to be perfect and in chronological order. But I think too much time was focused in certain areas (like Bennett) and not enough time on others (other possible suspects.) The season finale felt like the writers were trying to cram 15 pounds of crap into a 5 pound bag. And some of the portions of the case that were introduced last night, felt like things that should have been happening a while ago…checking the toll booths, expanding the search to areas around where Rosie was found, etc. I also felt like there was no way it could have been Richmond because the “evidence proving his guilt” came together so quickly and strangely that I didn’t buy it. Which is what made the reveal of the “twist” that Richmond is being set up by someone else, much less impactful. If it had been leading up to him or there was a slow build to him being the killer, the twist would have been that much greater. But that isn’t what happened.

I have to talk about one story line I REALLY wish would be dropped because it is so preposterous. That is the story line of Linden and her fiance Rick. Come on guys. She’s the main character. She’s the lead detective. You know she isn’t going anywhere and you know she’s coming back next season. So why are we still going through this ridiculous farce of her moving to Sonoma and marrying some guy who obviously doesn’t support her career? Can we stop this already and move on? No one cares about Rick and everyone knows Linden is staying. This is the dumbest story in the series and it’s time to let it go.

I know the fan base is VERY divided on this. Some people are livid about the non reveal of the killer. Others don’t understand what the big deal is because there is a Season Two where we will find out who killed Rosie. I’m kind of in the middle. A cop-out, I know. I’m not as upset as I would have been had The Killing not been renewed for a Season Two. I’ll still be able to see the results of Rosie’s investigation and therefore who killed her. If The Killing was not renewed, I would be much more upset. I still think it’s risky because according to Veena Sud, that was the plan all along…to not solve the case this season. I guess they got lucky they received a renewal. But I can understand why people are so upset. You invest 13 hours/episodes watching a show that promoted itself as following one case throughout the season with the inference that the case will be solved by the season finale. There were many episodes that weren’t utilized as well as they could have been. There was plenty of time, if told in a more fluent, succinct manner, to tell the story of the crime and the people and to wrap the case up in 13 episodes. Sud and the writers chose not to do that. That’s their right and prerogative. But guess what, you are going to have viewers very unhappy with that decision and you risk losing viewers moving forward. They haven’t lost me as a viewer but there are many people who have already commented that they will not tune in next year. Like I said, that’s a risk you take.

So what do you think of all this? Will you tune in next year? Are you done with The Killing? And I still get to ask the question….who do you think killed Rosie?